Showing results by narrator "Joanna Stephens" in All Categories

Lord Augustus Marford has only one interest in life - horses. It’s an expensive hobby. When his brother, the Marquess of Carrbridge, finds himself in financial trouble after his agent disappears with much of his fortune, Gus is happy to help the family finances by finding work with horse auctioneers Tattersalls. His first job takes him to the wild Northumberland coast to assess some stud horses for the eccentric Duke of Dunmorton.

Annie Dresden is 26 years old, with no fortune, and nothing but a quick, practical mind to recommend her. Taken in by her apothecary uncle after her father’s death, she’s happy to be his assistant, but there’s no future for her as an apothecary. The only proper career for a woman is as a wife and mother, but for Annie the possibility is dwindling. When a long-forgotten suitor returns, it seems fate has given her another chance.

Margaret is the quiet one of the Winterton family, happy only in her own home with her sisters protectively gathered around her. But her father’s death and mountain of debts tear the sisters apart and uproot them from Woodside. As a poor relation, Margaret must become a lowly paid companion to two elderly aunts she has never met. There is no welcome for Margaret at their gloomy house, Pendarreth, but the surrounding woods bring her solace - and unexpected danger.

Connie’s older sisters have managed to find husbands, but now it’s her turn, and she is not sure she wants to marry at all. Having only just escaped her late father’s restrictive regime, she’s reluctant to surrender her freedom to another man just yet. If only she could find one who would fall so adoringly in love that he would do anything for her.

Lord Humphrey Marford has a way with cards, dice, and gambling of all forms. He’d love to start his own gaming house, but that takes a lot of money, far more than he or his brothers can come up with. His only solution is to marry an heiress, and he can’t be too choosy. Miss Hortensia Blythe seems perfect - pretty, charming and very, very rich, she’s just home from India where her father made a fortune and left her every penny of it. But even as he courts the ladylike but rather dull Miss Blythe, Humphrey is drawn to her companion.

Feya Broon, a Scottish half Gypsy, knows what it is to go hungry. Trapped in the Edinburgh tenements with a father lost to his past and only the faded memory of her mother's faith, Feya is desperate to provide for her siblings. When an ill-conceived plan leads to thievery, she finds herself in the last place she'd ever want to be - captured by a palace guard. But there's something about this man that tears at every preconceived notion she's ever had about the haughty English.

A trilogy of contemporary plays inspired by tales from The Arabian Nights: Arabian Afternoons includes The Casper Logue Affair by Sebastian Baczkiewicz, The Porter and the Three Ladies by Rachel Joyce and A Dish of Pomegranates by Peter Jukes.